#24: Thank you for joining me on this Pilgrim’s Progress! but there’s more… Pt II! Christian’s overcoming story reached his wife + family, still back in the City of Destruction. Christiana now regretted her former refusal to accompany him: ‘I have sinned away your father; I have also hindered you of life. I am now as he was then; nothing will serve me but going on pilgrimage.’ And so she + their 4 boys, joined by Mercy, retrace Christian’s steps, encountering many of his same trials, but also new difficulties + victories of their own. Great-heart guides them through, slaying Giants Grim +Maul +Slay-good +Despair+Diffidence, destroying Doubting Castle once for all. A host of memorable characters join them along their journey: Mr. Humble-mind, Honest + Fearing + Feeble-mind + Ready-to-halt+ Valiant- for-truth + Stand-fast. Each grows in their resolve: ‘to run when I can, to go when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot go.’ Each fights the good fight + finishes his course, finds his identity + fulfills his destiny in Word + Spirit. The sons even find wives at inns along the way and a new generation takes hold of the promises. Finally the pilgrims cross the River one by one + reach their destination. Each is personally summoned with a word + a token, escorted by Shining Ones + welcomed to the glorious Celestial City, their true + eternal home. Stand-fast’s record rings true: ‘Thy wheel broken at the cistern… please send my 5 children here also to come after me!... The river has been a terror, but now I stand easy, my foot is fixed; the waters are to the palate bitter + to the stomach cold, yet what awaits me on the other side is as a glowing coal in my heart. I have formerly lived by hearsay, and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself.’ … and so all pilgrims progress … and so, good readers, I pray will you find it also.